Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!mel.dit.csiro.au!yarra!bacchus!matt From: matt@bacchus.esa.oz (Matt Atterbury) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Network layout Message-ID: Date: 11 Dec 90 22:28:29 GMT Sender: matt@bacchus.esa.oz.au Distribution: comp Organization: Expert Solutions Australia. Lines: 37 Hello all, Our Apollo's seem to be running pretty sluggishly at the moment, and I was wondering if it could be because of network overload. We do A LOT of s/w development using X (some people use DM but ALL applications are in X). We have about 4 disked 3550's and 6 diskless 3550/3500's, with about 6 more diskless to be added. We have 1 machine which stores almost all the binaries (even /$SYSTYPE/...); the other disked nodes store home directories, project stuff, news spool, etc (no real cohesion except that home directories are all on 1 node). An obvious bottleneck here is the machine which stores all the binaries - is this a bad idea? (BTW, this node is also the gateway to an Ethernet of SONY workstations). Q. How do you lay everything out. I was wondering if a better idea might be to partition the network so that we have (say) 1 disked machine with binaries, home directories, etc and about 4 diskless nodes booting off it, all on one sub-ring, a similar set-up in another sub-ring, and the two disked nodes connected with a second ATR card. Hopefully this would minimise the cross-ring traffic while allowing everyone to do what they gotta do. Of course, this is all moot if the network load is actually low or irrelevant - any ideas on how to measure and guage it? many thanks and regards ... -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt Atterbury [matt@bacchus.esa.oz] Expert Solutions Australia, Melbourne UUCP: ...!uunet!munnari!matt@bacchus.esa.oz "klaatu barada nikto" or: ...!uunet!murtoa!bacchus.esa.oz!matt "consider this a divorce" ARPA: matt%bacchus.esa.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET "life? don't talk to me about life!"